Finland Current Account November 2016

Finland: Current account surplus dwindles in November

January 13, 2017

The current account posted a EUR 195 million surplus in November, according to Statistics Finland. The result was below the EUR 248 million surplus recorded in October but was considerably above the EUR 2 million surplus logged in November 2015.

In the 12 months up to November, the accumulative current account balance recorded a EUR 1.3 billion deficit, an improvement from October’s accumulated current account deficit of EUR 1.5 billion.

The trade balance was EUR 64 million in surplus in November, a stronger reading than both October’s 24 million surplus and the 38 million deficit observed in November of the previous year. On an annual basis, exports jumped 4.3% in November, which was a robust upswing from October’s 5.3% contraction. Imports also turned around, growing 2.0% in November, well above October’s 1.9% drop.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect the current account to record a deficit of 0.3 of GDP in 2017, which is down 0.2 percentage points from last month’s projection. For 2018, the current account is expected to register a surplus of 0.2% of GDP.

Author:David Ampudia, Economist

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According to Statistics Finland, which heavily revised its historical data this month, the current account showed a EUR 0.09 billion surplus in November last year, less than the revised EUR 0.18 billion surplus recorded in October (previously reported: EUR 0.54 billion).
In the 12 months leading up to November, the current account surplus widened to EUR 1.4 billion, compared to October’s revised cumulative 12-month surplus of EUR 1.2 billion (previously reported: EUR 0.18 billion).
The trade surplus narrowed in November against the previous month, recording net inflows worth EUR 181 million compared to October’s revised EUR 284 million surplus (previously reported: EUR 279 million surplus).

The current account surplus came in at EUR 0.54 billion in October, higher than both the EUR 0.08 billion surplus recorded in the previous month and the EUR 0.26 billion surplus totaled in the same month last year.
In the 12 months leading up to October, the current account deficit narrowed to EUR 0.18 billion, compared to September’s cumulative 12-month deficit of EUR 0.46 billion.
The trade surplus widened marginally in October over the previous month, recording net inflows worth EUR 279 million compared to September’s EUR 220 million surplus.